Tivandra is a small, elderly gentleman with gray white hair and a full salt and pepper beard. Agile as a goat, elusive as a change of wind, Tivandra is a nature god, a mixture of the Nordic trickster god Loki, the Greek Sartyr and perhaps even Zeus, for Tivandra is the only God in the local pantheon of the island of Tavewa, part of the volcanic peaks located 80 kilometers north west of Viti Levua, one of the two large islands which constitute the primary land mass of the commonwealth nation of Fiji in the South Pacific.

Local legend places Tivandra’s favorite abode on the Southern leeward side of the island, on a ledge of porous rock which drops sharply to a deep blue channel and which at high tide is pounded dramatically by deep swells and crashing white crests.

On the third day of our Fiji saltwater flyfishing excursion, Jason, a member of our five man group, was casting from the specially designed platform on the bow of an 18 foot fishing skiff, the Yawa Mai, designed by the owners of Saltwater Fly Adventures, Canadian Professional Fly Angler Bruce Roberts and local Fijian fishing and kayaking guide Henry Murray, a resident of Tavewa. The Yawa Mai’s design is based on fly casting boats used on saltwater flats for sight and cast fishing for bonefish and tarpon. Although Bruce and Henry offer sand flat fishing, they also use the Yawa Mai for blue fin trevally and giant Trevally, skip jack and yellow fin tuna, and large Spanish Mackerel, known locally as Walu. They also use the boat in promising water to cast bucktails, large shrimp and Clouser patterns to cruising predators like barracuda or hard fighting territorial fish like the remarkable red or turquoise coral trout, which pound for pound are among the toughest fish to land on mid weight fly rods given their instinctive tendency to lunge immediately on hook set to the safety of their coral home, where flyline can become irretrievably tangled or shredded.

Jason’s cast took his blue-white double hook bucktail into the deep swells just below the rocks of Tivandra’s playground. He was using one of Bruce’s Winston rods, a 9-foot, 12 wt, XTR coupled with an Islander large arbor reel spooled with Versa-Tip Rio line with a sink-tip shooting head.

Whether Tivandra approved of Jason’s double haul casting we’ll never know for sure, but on his fourth cast, he increased the speed of his strip and on a rising swell his bucktail was smacked like a lazy dog on a train track. When a large barracuda hits a moving fly near the surface, it can make your jaw drop. Bruce, who was piloting the Yawa Mai, immediately called out "set some drag, let him run. That’s a big fish." Bruce has learned the hard way that steel leaders and clips are no guarantee against breakage when the machinery at work are teeth like serrated steak knives and a million year old instinct to chomp, twist and saw. I’d already lost two large cuda. One snapped the hook shank, the other had mangled the wire clip like a strand of spaghetti. Jason let his fish run and within seconds he was well into his backing. The barracuda only broke the surface once, but it was a spectacular leap with the tail fins clearing the water in a spray of water. The fish took a half dozen serious runs and twenty minutes later we saw where all that power came from – a 25 lb., meter long barracuda on the fly!

Though a large barracuda can put up one hell of a fight, we were looking to compare its tenacity with Giant Trevally, blue fin Trevally and hopefully a skipjack or yellow fin Tuna. We left Tavewa the next day for a resort on the largest of Fiji’s main islands. The Seashell Resort was built in the late seventies in a sheltered coconut grove on Momi Bay on the southwestern corner of Viti Levau. This area is known for its large fish, particularly giant and blue fin Trevally. Momi Bay is a large lagoon with easy access to the open waters of the South Pacific and the large fish that live there. Further out, boats troll for marlin and sailfish, but we were keeping inside the lagoon, working the edges of the reef that create the surf break. In early morning and early evening, small schools of big blue fin Trevally will cruise coral walls searching for bait schools. Bait fish will move over the channels at the reef’s edge at tide change, seeking the safety of the shallow water over the coral heads.

We had most of our Trevally action in the transitional water at the edge of the reef an hour or two after sunrise or before sunset. Our first morning at Momi Bay I was fishing with Bruce using a 13-15 wt. G. Loomis rod, special salt water series, coupled with an islander reel with the sink-tip shooting head line. I’d asked Bruce to give me some casting tips using this heavier rod to toss a fat, yellow boilermaker popper to the reef’s edge. Bruce is a world caliber fly caster and when we saw a school of Trevally slashing at bait fish along the reef about seventy feet from the boat, Bruce responded by placing a near perfect double haul cast just past the frothing water. On his first strip, the popper disappeared in a sparkling slash of fin and spray and the line came tight to a large blue fin.

You have to strip set and haul back hard to set the hook in the extraordinarily dense jaw cartilage of these well-armored predators. I’ve lost Trevally in mid-fight when the hook has simply failed to pierce through.

Bruce’s fish was well set and the fight was a joy to watch. Once hooked, Trevally power dive for deep water and despite the ample heft of Bruce’s tackle, the Trevally twice held in deep water and fought the G. Loomis to a standstill. With the fish finally to the boat, we took a quick picture and returned the Trevally to his still feeding friends.

We spent a further seven days in two other locations, ending our saltwater fly adventure in air conditioned rooms at the Waterfront Hotel in the harbour town of Lautoka. My fishing journal showed fifteen different species of saltwater fish to the boat during out twelve days on the water, including dozens of scrappy skipjack tuna, two GT giants and two blue fins. I also compiled a personal list of tips for any who wish to experience powerful and unusual fish on the fly in this truly exotic South Sea blue water paradise.

Top ten tips:

1. If you use your own equipment, bring a spare spool filled with mono if you want at any time to troll with your fly rod – virtually any trolling time will twist and loop fly line and seriously interfere with casting;

2. Use loops to tie your monofilament leader to your fly line. Large saltwater fish eventually played Houdini on every knot we tied, but the loops held;

3. Should you want to tie your own patterns, four inch double hook herring patterns with braided wire were consistently effective;

4. If you want to fight a good size barracuda for longer than a deep breath, make sure you have no monofilament connections whatsoever within a foot of your fly;

5. Prime fishing season in Fiji is May to October – its cooler and the schools of mackerel and tuna are generally in the area, attracting even bigger fish;

6. I’ve found Ready Wear quick dry clothing the most comfortable in the high humidity of Fiji. Don’t bring leather shoes with metal buckles (you’ll end up throwing them away). Neoprene surf boots work very well;

7. Bring a good hat with back of the neck protection and two pairs of good quality sunglasses (you just may truly appreciate that backup pair);

8. I recommend high SPF sunscreen and a really effective bug spray;

9. You’ll need a good flashlight because when the sun goes down in the Yasawa Islands it gets really dark, really quick;

10. You’ll be living on Fiji time, which is slow, rhythmic and as eternal as Tivandra.

END NOTE:
Kirk Wirsig is a Vancouver lawyer and veteran fly fisherman who has made several expeditions to Fiji. He’s the founding member of the B.C. Trial Lawyers Fly Anglers Association, whose motto is: “I fish, therefore I am.” Kirk can be contacted at: hwm.injurylaw@telus.net
Roberts Fly Shop & Fishing Company can be reached in Alberta at 403-932-5855